Although this blog is written in Dutch, we would like to share some final words in English so that many of our new friends can read them without having to use Google Translate.
After being shipped a couple of weeks on the train from Eastern Siberia to Estonia and a boat trip from Estonia to Bremerhaven, we recently picked up Ulie and brought him home! The only things lost during its trip back were the bright red valve caps and the Mongolian air from one of the tires. At least all the cheap stuff we bought at the Action has been stolen from the car. We were lucky to have a brief reunion with Sebastian from the Crazy Chemists and their Yaris when picking up the car in Bremerhaven!
Let’s look back at some stats of our trip and our lessons learned from the Mongol Rally.
Most important facts
- about 20 times we were stopped by the police
- 3 times the police tried to get a bribe
- 0 times we paid a bribe
- 1 high five was received from a police officer
- 2 flat tires, of which one was caused by a stupid (read: awesome) move from Arne and the other was the spare that replaced it
- 5 times we visited a garage, of which 4 times Ulie was allowed on the bridge
- about 5000 photos were taken of our car, more than half of this was in Iran and mostly while driving
Lessons learned
- A dirty toilet to sit on is worse than a clean squatting toilet, which is worse than outside in the field. Outside in the field is the best.
- The Turkmenistan road to Nukus is worse than the Mongolian washboard roads, which is worse than a simple off-road track in the right direction.
- The Mongol Rally is dangerous for stupid Brits and when you drive in the dark. For all other people, it is just a massive road-trip.
- Wendie overestimated how tough it would be, Arne underestimated it.
- Even when you get diarrhea multiple times, 3 family packs of toilet paper is too much.
- Time zones and currencies are all relative and very confusing when you have to change them every other day.
Thank you!
And of course we salut with a big thank you. Thanks to all of you to support us with nice and not so nice music (although Wendie kinda likes Bob Offenbergs songs now). It made us laugh and cry and we felt really appreciated. Special thanks to Anton who saved our relationship by demanding us to listen to ‘Geen Ruzie in de Auto’ (no fighting in the car) by Bert & Ernie of Sesame Street every time we had a fight. We listened to it 7 times. The total amount you all brought together for our charities (Cool Earth and Give Milk Stop Aids) is…
1456 EUROS!!!
We also want to thank all the people we met during our trip that made it an unforgettable experience. Thanks to Cem in Turkey for helping us find parts for our car and getting us featured in the local newspaper. Thanks to Mahyar in Iran for inviting us to have lunch in his restaurant. Thanks to Mohammed and his wife in Iran for spending a day with us drinking tea, eating chicken and camping with us in a park. Thanks to Mahdi and his family for hosting us in Mashhad and showing us around this beautiful city. Thanks to Oleg for getting us up to speed in Uzbekistan. Thanks to Laura in Kazakhstan for letting us stay in the dining room of her parents hotel and spending the evening with us drinking vodka and eating nice food. Thanks to Papu and Elena for convoying with us the first two days in Mongolia and for being only moderately crazy Brits. And last but definitely not least: thanks to Sebastian and Fabian from the Crazy Chemists who teamed up with us from the start of Mongolia and stuck with us until we reached the finish line. We could not have wished for a better convoy and team to conquer the last part of the rally with. See you in Münster guys!